1. Technical Field
The present invention is related to security systems for use with large sites on the World Wide Web. More specifically, the present invention provides a method, computer program product, and data processing system for allowing centralized access to information in disparate user registries across networked data processing system.
2. Description of Related Art
The Internet, also referred to as an “internetwork,” is a set of computer networks, possibly dissimilar, joined together by means of gateways that handle data transfer and the conversion of messages from protocols of the sending network to the protocols used by the receiving network (with packets if necessary). When capitalized, the term “Internet” refers to the collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols.
The Internet has become a cultural fixture as a source of both information and entertainment. Many businesses are creating Internet sites as an integral part of their marketing efforts, informing consumers of the products or services offered by the business or providing other information seeking to engender brand loyalty. Many federal, state, and local government agencies are also employing Internet sites for informational purposes, particularly agencies which must interact with virtually all segments of society such as the Internal Revenue Service and secretaries of state. Providing informational guides and/or searchable databases of online public records may reduce operating costs. Further, the Internet is becoming increasingly popular as a medium for commercial transactions.
Currently, the most commonly employed method of transferring data over the Internet is to employ the World Wide Web environment, also called simply “the Web”. Other Internet resources exist for transferring information, such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and Gopher, but have not achieved the popularity of the Web. In the Web environment, servers and clients effect data transaction using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a known protocol for handling the transfer of various data files (e.g., text, still graphic images, audio, motion video, etc.). The information in various data files is formatted for presentation to a user by a standard page description language, the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). In addition to basic presentation formatting, HTML allows developers to specify “links” to other Web resources identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL is a special syntax identifier defining a communications path to specific information. Each logical block of information accessible to a client, called a “page” or a “Web page”, is identified by a URL. The URL provides a universal, consistent method for finding and accessing this information, not necessarily for the user, but mostly for the user's Web “browser”. A browser is a program capable of submitting a request for information identified by an identifier, such as, for example, a URL. A user may enter a domain name through a graphical user interface (GUI) for the browser to access a source of content. The domain name is automatically converted to the Internet Protocol (IP) address by a domain name system (DNS), which is a service that translates the symbolic name entered by the user into an IP address by looking up the domain name in a database.
The Internet also is widely used to transfer applications to users using browsers. With respect to commerce on the Web, individual consumers and business use the Web to purchase various goods and services. In offering goods and services, some companies offer goods and services solely on the Web while others use the Web to extend their reach.
In recent years, organizations have expanded the role of the Web from a mere disseminator of information to an integral part of business operations. Organizations increasingly rely on the Web to provide essential business services, such as allowing customers to view their accounts online or to allow internal employees to access internal information over the Internet for use while working from home.
As organizations move from providing static content to providing key services, the amount of sensitive data becoming accessible over the Web is increasing steadily. This has brought about a major change in the requirements for data security over the Web. It is no longer sufficient to “keep the bad guys out.” Organizations with a strong web presence must not only keep out unauthorized users, but must also keep authorized users from accessing data and applications they should not be allowed to access.
To complicate matters, even sophisticated websites are often a hodge-podge of various applications and servers, each with their own authentication systems and user registries (the databases that store data for use in authenticating users). Rewriting each and every application on a site so as to implement a unified security policy is a Herculean task. To provide effective site-wide security over a complex website, however, some sort of centralized access control is needed, so that authorized users may access only those resources they are authorized to access. It would also be beneficial if a user need only sign onto the site once, rather than for each time a new application is accessed.
What is needed then, is a system whereby a unified security policy may be implemented in a website having disparate user registries and authentication mechanisms.